...Baby One More Time (song)
This article is about the song. For the album, see ...Baby One More Time (album). "...Baby One More Time" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears. It served as Spears' debut single and title track from her debut studio album, ...Baby One More Time (1999). Written by Max Martin and produced by him, Rami Yacoub and Denniz Pop, "...Baby One More Time" was released on September 30, 1998, by Jive Records. "...Baby One More Time" is a teen pop and dance-pop song that refers to a girl who regrets breaking up with her boyfriend and is noted as one of Spears' favorite songs from her career. 'More Information' |-|Background= In June 1997, Spears was in talks with manager Lou Pearlman to join female pop group Innosense. Lynne Spears asked family friend and entertainment lawyer Larry Rudolph for his opinion and submitted a tape of Spears singing over a Whitney Houston karaoke song along with some pictures. Rudolph decided he wanted to pitch her to record labels, therefore she needed a professional demo. He sent Spears an unused song from Toni Braxton; she rehearsed for a week and recorded her vocals in a studio with a sound engineer. Spears traveled to New York with the demo and met with executives from four labels, returning to Kentwood the same day. Three of the labels rejected her, arguing audiences wanted pop bands such as the Backstreet Boys and the Spice Girls, and "there wasn't going to be another Madonna, another Debbie Gibson, or another Tiffany." Two weeks later, executives from Jive Records returned calls to Rudolph. Senior vice president of A&R Jeff Fenster stated about Spears's audition that "It's very rare to hear someone that age who can deliver emotional content and commercial appeal. ... For any artist, the motivation—the 'eye of the tiger'— is extremely important. And Britney had that." They appointed her to work with producer Eric Foster White for a month, who reportedly shaped her voice from "lower and less poppy" delivery to "distinctively, unmistakably Britney." After hearing the recorded material, president Clive Calder ordered a full album. Spears had originally envisioned "Sheryl Crow music, but younger more adult contemporary" but felt all right with her label's appointment of producers, since "It made more sense to go pop, because I can dance to it—it's more me." She flew to Cheiron Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, where half of the album was recorded from March to April 1998, with producers Max Martin, Denniz Pop and Rami Yacoub, among others. Martin showed Spears and her management a track titled "Hit Me Baby One More Time", which was originally written for American group Backstreet Boys and R&B group TLC; however, when the song was submitted to them, they rejected it. Spears later claimed that she felt excited when she heard it and knew it was going to be a hit record. "We at Jive said, 'This is a fuckin' smash'," revealed the label's A&R executive at the time Steven Lunt; however, other executives were concerned that the line "Hit Me" would condone domestic violence, later being revised to "...Baby One More Time". Spears recorded her vocals for the song on March 1998 at Cheiron Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. The singer revealed that she "didn’t do well at all the first day in the studio the song, I was just too nervous. So I went out that night and had some fun. The next day I was completely relaxed and nailed it. You gotta be relaxed singing ‘… Baby One More Time’." The track was produced by Denniz Pop, Martin and Rami, and was also mixed by Martin at Cheiron Studios. Thomas Lindberg played the guitar, while Johan Carlberg played the bass guitar. Background vocals were provided by Spears, Martin and Nana Hedin. Spears also recorded a track called "Autumn Goodbye", written and produced by Eric Foster White, that was released as a b-side to "...Baby One More Time". The track was recorded in 1997 at 4MW East Studios in New Jersey. "...Baby One More Time" was released as Spears's debut single on September 30, 1998 by Jive Records, when she was only 16 years old. The singer has named "...Baby One More Time" as one of her favorite songs from her entire career, naming "Toxic" and "He About to Lose Me" as the other two. |-|Reception= "...Baby One More Time" received generally favorable reviews from contemporary critics, who mostly praised its composition. Marc Oxoby, author of The 1990s (2003), noted the song "was derided as vapid by some critics, yet tapped into the same kind of audience to whom the Spice Girls music appealed, young teens and pre-teens." Amanda Murray of Sputnikmusic commented, "One More Time" is well-composed, tightly arranged, and even with Spears's vocal limitations it goes straight for the proverbial pop jugular." She also said that the song was a highlight in the pop music genre and added, "There is little doubt that '...Baby One More Time' will be long remembered as one of the cornerstones of pop music in general, and it is a strong front-runner as the prototype for the late 90s pop resurgence." Bill Lamb of About.com considered "...Baby One More Time" as Spears's best song, saying, "the song is full of hooks and a big mainstream pop sound. The accompanying schoolgirl video caused a sensation, and, when the single hit No. 1, Britney was assured of stardom." In a list compiled by Sara Anderson of AOL Radio, "...Baby One More Time" was ranked sixth in a list of Spears's best songs. She noted the singer "somehow made the school girl outfit and pink pom-pom hair-ties trendy again, worn by every tween in the succeeding years." Beth Johnson of Entertainment Weekly called "...Baby One More Time" a "candy-pop-with-a-funky-edge smash", while Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said the song was "ingenious", and Barry Walters of Rolling Stone compared it to early hits of Samantha Fox, claiming that the song "effectively transforms this ex-Mouseketeer born in a tiny Louisiana town into a growling jailbait dynamo". Brian Raftery of Blender called it "a perfectly fine, slickly conceived pop tune. .. At the time, teen-pop was still a boys’ club, but while the guys were crooning about crushes, Spears was already planning the sleep-over party". A review of NME considered "...Baby One More Time" "incredible", commenting that "it's a symphony of teenage lust as fully realised as anything Brian Wilson ever wrote – a truly grand pop song that overwhelms any lingering undercurrent of Lolita paedo-creepiness through the sheer fanatical earnestness of its delivery." "...Baby One More Time" won a Teen Choice Award for Single of the Year and an MTV Europe Music Award for Best Song. The song was officially sent to the American radio stations on October 23, 1998. On November 21, 1998, "...Baby One More Time" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the chart two and a half months later for two consecutive weeks, replacing R&B-singer Brandy's "Have You Ever?". Simultaneously, it climbed to number-one on the Canadian Singles Chart. The song reached the top spot of the Hot 100 Singles Sales and stayed there for four consecutive weeks. This eventually propelled the single to a platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America. Though not as strong as its sales tallies, "...Baby One More Time" also experienced considerable airplay, becoming her first top ten hit on the Hot 100 Airplay, peaking at number eight. The single also became an all-around hit on Top 40 radio, going top ten on both the Top 40 Tracks and Rhythmic Top 40, and to number one for five weeks on the Mainstream Top 40. It spent 32 weeks on the Hot 100 and ended up at number five on Billboard magazine's year-end chart. As of June 2012, "...Baby One More Time" has sold 1,412,000 physical singles, with 511,000 paid digital downloads in the United States. It is Spears's best-selling physical single in the country. "...Baby One More Time" debuted at number 20 on the Australian Singles Chart, a month later reached number one and stayed there for nine consecutive weeks. The song eventually became the second highest-selling single of the year, only behind Lou Bega's "Mambo#5", and was certified three-times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association for selling over 210,000 copies. In New Zealand, the single spent four non-consecutive weeks at the top of the charts and after shipping over 15,000 units to retailers the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand certified it platinum. The track reached the top spot in every European country in which it charted. "...Baby One More Time" spent two consecutive weeks at number-one on the French Singles Chart and was certified platinum by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique after selling over 500,000 units in the country.Additionally, the song topped the German Singles Chart for six consecutive weeks and sold over 750,000 copies, resulting in a three-times gold certification by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry In the United Kingdom, according Jive Records, the single "…Baby One More Time" has sold more than 250,000 copies in a mere three days. Spears broke a first-week sales record for a female act at the time when "...Baby One More Time" sold a total of 460,000 copies in the United Kingdom. The single went on to sell over 1.5 million units, making it the highest-selling single of the year and the 29th best-selling of all-time in Britain. Eventually, the British Phonographic Industry certified it two-times platinum on March 26, 1999. Additionally, "...Baby One More Time" is the third best-selling single by a female artist in the country, just behind Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" and Cher's "Believe". "...Baby One More Time" is one of the best-selling singles of all time, with over 10 million copies sold worldwide. |-|Music Video= The music video was filmed on August 6, 7 and 8, 1998, in Los Angeles and was directed by Nigel Dick. After being chosen, Dick received criticism from his colleagues about wanting to work with Spears. He responded saying, "It's a great song. I don't know anything about Britney. I never watched The Mickey Mouse Club. She seems like a great kid and she's very enthusiastic, but I just love the song. It's just a great song". The video's original setup was in high contrast to what eventually became the final product. The plan was to have the video in a cartoon-like environment, in a likely attempt to attract the audience of younger children. Spears was unhappy with this, and argued that she wanted her video to reflect the lives of her fans and wanted to set the video in a school. Spears pitched this idea to Dick, and further explained she wanted the video to have dance scenes. The original setting was scrapped and replaced with Spears's concept. Dick’s original idea for the wardrobe was jeans and a t-shirt, but during the wardrobe fitting Spears decided to change it for a schoolgirl outfit. Dick said that "Every piece of wardrobe in the video came from Kmart, and I was told at the time not one piece of clothing in the video cost more than $17. On that level, it's real. That probably, in retrospect, is a part of its charm." The knotted shirt design was Spears's idea, she recollects saying, "The outfits looked kind of dorky, so I was like, 'Let's tie up our shirts and be cute'". About the experience of shooting her first music video, Spears said, "It was a wonderful experience. All these people there, working for you. I had my own trailer. It was an amazing experience". The music video was shot at Venice High School, the same school used to film the movie Grease. The video premiered on MTV and other music video stations in November 1998. Synopsis Spears wearing the schoolgirl outfit in the "...Baby One More Time" music video. The video begins with Spears appearing bored in class at a Catholic high school.47 Her assistant Felicia Culotta played the role of Spears's teacher. When the bell rings, Spears runs out into the hall and begins a choreographed dance. After this, Spears is outside, now adorned in an athletic outfit. Along with a couple of other students, she performs a number of gymnastic moves before heading back inside. She is then sitting on the bleachers in the gymnasium watching a basketball game. Her love interest is revealed sitting close to her, played by her real-life cousin Chad. After this short segment, Spears begins her final dance routine and the video ends shortly afterwards, revealing that the whole thing had actually just been Spears's daydream. Reception The schoolgirl outfit is considered to be one of Spears's iconic looks and is on display at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The ensemble caused controversy among parents associations for showing the midriff of a sixteen-year-old. Spears faced the criticism saying, "Me showing my belly? I'm from the South; you're stupid if you don't wear a sports bra you go to dance class, you're going to be sweating your butt off." In 1999, "...Baby One More Time" earned Spears her first three MTV Video Music Award nominations, in the categories of Best Pop Video, Best Choreography, and Best Female Video. In a list compiled by VH1 in 2001, it was listed at number ninety in the best videos of all time. The video was the first of fourteen of her videos to retire on MTV's television series TRL. On its final episode, a three-hour special aired on November 16, 2008, "…Baby One More Time" was number one in their final countdown as the most iconic music videos of all time and was the last video to be played on the show. Wesley Yang in his essay “Inside the Box” in n+1, compared the music video to Britny Fox's "Girlschool" because it featured "a classroom full of Catholic schoolgirls gyrating to the beat in defiance of a stern teacher. .. But that was a sexist video by a horrible hair metal band that exploited women. Britney Spears was something else—an inflection point in the culture". The music video is also referenced in the music video of Spears's 2000 single, Stronger were she quotes, "My loneliness ain't killing me no more" - a reference to ...Baby One More Time were she quotes, "My loneliness is killing me." The music video is also referenced in 2009 single, "If U Seek Amy". After she comes out of the house dressed as a housewife, her daughter is dressed with a similar schoolgirl outfit while wearing pink ribbons in her hair. The video was ranked at number four on a list of the ten most controversial music videos in pop by AOL on September 29, 2011. |-|Lyrics= Oh baby, baby Oh baby, baby Oh baby, baby How was I supposed to know That something wasn't right here Oh baby baby I shouldn't have let you go And now you're out of sight, yeah Show me, how you want it to be Tell me baby 'Cause I need to know now what we've got CHORUS: My loneliness is killing me I must confess, I still believe When I'm not with you I lose my mind Give me a sign Hit me baby one more time Oh baby, baby The reason I breathe is you Boy you got me blinded Oh baby, baby There's nothing that I wouldn't do That's not the way I planned it Show me, how you want it to be Tell me baby 'Cause I need to know now what we've got CHORUS Oh baby, baby Oh baby, baby Ah, yeah, yeah Oh baby, baby How was I supposed to know Oh pretty baby I shouldn't have let you go I must confess, that my loneliness Is killing me now Don't you know I still believe That you will be here And give me a sign Hit me baby one more time CHORUS I must confess that my loneliness Is killing me now Don't you know I still believe That you will be here And give me a sign Hit me baby one more time 'Credits' Credits for "...Baby One More Time" are taken from the single's liner notes. *Britney Spears – top vocals and lead vocals *Max Martin – songwriting, producer, recording, audio mixing, and background vocals *Rami Yacoub – producer, recording, and audio mixing *Denniz Pop - producer *Nana Hedin – background vocals *Thomas Lindberg – bass guitar, *Johan Carlberg – bass guitar, *Tom Coyne – mastering Category:Singles Category:Singles from ...Baby One More Time